This article was originally posted back in June, but the graphic was so ugly that I wanted to give it an update. Here you’ll find the same great info with a brand new look, plus a link to a free story on the authors’ website!
I read The Kinsmen Universe a while back because a friend recommended Ilona Andrews to me as a potential comp for my upcoming debut, A Symphony of Starlight. And let me just start by saying I adore the world of the Kinsmen to no end!
In a distant sci-fi future, families called Kinsmen have inherited genetically modified superpowers. They’ve settled on Rada, where wealthy Kinsmen families own competing corporate empires, living like gangsters in a violent but luscious backdrop of vibrant colour, earthy foods, cool futuristic architecture, and colourful fashion.
And of course lots of sexy romance.
I adore all the stories set in this world. But before I review each of them individually, I think it’s important to clarify what’s what with this group of novellas, because they’ve been released in different formats and it can get a little confusing.
First, The Kinsmen Universe. It’s a collection of three romance novellas that all take place in the same sci-fi world. The collection was published in 2018, but two of the three novellas (Silent Blade and Silver Shark) were also released as standalones in 2009 and 2018 respectively. You can opt to purchase these two standalone novellas separately rather than in The Kinsmen Universe collection if you prefer. But to my knowledge, the only way to get the third story in the collection (A Mere Formality) is to purchase The Kinsmen Universe, which contains all three stories.
Second, Fated Blades. This is a separate, longer romance novella that also takes place in the same sci-fi world. It’s the most recently published of the Kinsmen books, released in 2021.
So, which do I recommend? And in what order?
If you like sexy sci-fi romance with human characters, I highly recommend you buy both The Kinsmen Universe collection and Fated Blades.
It doesn’t really matter which of these two books you read first. But within The Kinsmen Universe collection, you want to make sure to read Silent Blade first and Silver Shark second because Silver Shark takes place a decade after Silent Blade and contains a cameo from the preceding novella’s main characters that could be a little bit of a spoiler.
If you’re not sure yet and only want to try one of the Kinsmen novellas, I recommend Silver Shark. Fated Blades is longer and equally as good, but Silver Shark is cheaper to purchase, has a super unique premise with its psychic hackers, and in my opinion it’s also the sexiest of the Kinsmen stories.
Plus, if you’re going to enter the vibrant world of the Kinsmen only once, I think it’s most intriguing to experience it through the eyes of an outsider who’s entering the world for the first time herself, and Claire is the perfect character to accompany on her journey into this dangerous and beautiful new world.
Okay, so now that you know how to navigate the different versions and collections, on to the individual stories:
Inside The Kinsmen Universe
As discussed above, this is collection of three novellas. I’ll go in-depth into each novella separately below.
Silent Blade is available as a standalone or in The Kinsmen Universe collection.
Meli’s life as a Kinsmen heiress was ruined when Celino, the heir of a more powerful family, ended their engagement and made it impossible for Meli to marry again. As a Kinsmen with a secret power, she was exiled and forced into the life of an assassin. Now she’s ready to retire, but first, she must complete one last job: seduce and kill the man she spent her childhood preparing to marry.
Silver Shark is available as a standalone or in The Kinsmen Universe.
Claire is a lethal psychic hacker, trained to destroy enemy minds on the bionet.
But when the war on her planet ends and her corporation-state wants her dead, Claire escapes to Rada to start a new life as a refugee. Her survival depends on keeping her psychic abilities hidden. But that’s not easy when she’s forced into a job as a secretary in a top bionet security firm, and she develops a crush on her boss Venturo, the powerful and sexy lead psycher.
A Mere Formality is only available as part of the Kinsemn Universe collection.
This is a sci-fi love story that presumably takes place in the same universe as the Kinsmen stories, but doesn’t actually feature the Kinsmen or their planet Rada.
Diplomatic analyst Deirdre is roped into an arranged marriage and has to negotiate a contract that includes a long list of naughty wifely duties. This story is very short and the whole thing is basically just one long sex joke. That being said, it made me laugh out loud, and I enjoyed the cute HEA ending.
This story is available for free on the authors’ website, or as a bonus in The Kinsmen Universe collection. But I don’t recommend it as an introduction if you’re new to the world.
Fated Blades
This is not a collection. It’s one longer Kinsmen novella sold by itself.
Descended from the same group of genetically engineered warriors, the Adlers and the Baenas have been feuding for hundreds of years. Now, both families’ corporations are racing to perfect the same long-dormant ancestral technology.
But when their spouses steal top secret information and run off together to sell it to a dangerous off-world enemy, Ramona Adler and Matias Baena must team up to recover the top-secret tech from an enemy that could use it to destroy their world. But working together is complicated when it will not only enrage their warring families, but also unlock the long-lost secret to their ancestral powers, and spark a world-changing romance in the process.
This one is the newest Kinsmen story and could be read without having any prior experience with the Kinsmen Universe. Highly recommended!
This is my favorite world by Ilona Andrews. I think Silver Shark is my favorite but so hard to choose!
I don’t think I realized that A Mere Formality was part of the Kinsmen Universe. Maybe a re-read of them all is in order?
I love Silver Shark so much, too!!! It’s one of my top sci-fi romance novellas of all time, probably tied for first place with This Is How You Lose the Time War.
A Mere Formality is part of the Kinsmen Universe in that it’s in the collection entitled The Kinsmen Universe, but it definitely doesn’t take place on the planet Rada. I was sort of imagining it in another part of that galaxy on a distant planet or something.